Jo Stafford

Jo Elizabeth Stafford (12 November 1917 – 16 July 2008) was an American traditional pop singer whose career spanned five decades, from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Initially trained in classical singing, she turned to popular music and, by 1955, had sold more records worldwide than any other female artist. Her 1952 song “You Belong to Me” reached number one in the United States and the United Kingdom, becoming the second single to top the UK Singles Chart and the first performed by a woman to do so.

Born in Coalinga, California, she first performed at the age of twelve, then formed the trio Stafford Sisters with her two older sisters. In 1938, she met the future members of the Pied Pipers and became their lead singer; Tommy Dorsey hired them in 1939, and from 1940 to 1942 the group performed with Dorsey's new singer, Frank Sinatra.

After leaving the group in 1944, she recorded for Capitol and then Columbia Records songs now regarded as standards, often with Paul Weston's orchestra. Her concerts for the United Service Organizations during the Second World War earned her the nickname “G.I. Jo”.

Married in 1937 to John Huddleston (divorced in 1943) and then in 1952 to Paul Weston, with whom she had two children, Stafford formed the comedy duo Jonathan and Darlene Edwards with him; their 1961 album, Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris, won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. She largely retired from performing in the mid-1960s and died in 2008 in Century City, Los Angeles. Her work is recognised with three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.